‘Go and vote and then go and bid on the house’

Fewer properties are expected to go to auction across NSW this election-day Saturday but for many northern district real estate agents it is business as usual.

Buoyed by a 100 per cent auction clearance rate for his properties so far this year, McGrath Epping’s Wayne Vaughan sees no reason not to run an auction on March 23.

“I’ve not had any buyer tell me they can’t turn up to an auction because they have to vote,” Mr Vaughan said.

“An election makes not a lick of difference to buyer attendance — not at state or federal level.”

One of Mr Vaughan’s properties, a character house at 33 Epping Ave, Eastwood, was scheduled for auction this Saturday.

However, it sold on Monday for an undisclosed price at the upper end of a $1.7 million to $1.85 million buyers guide.

A 2.15pm start for the auction of a villa at 3/12 Miriam Rd, West Ryde, gives buyers time to vote and partake in the sausage sizzle before heading to the property to register their interest.

Mr Vaughan has no doubt the villa will sell on the day.

A villa at 3/12 Miriam Rd, West Ryde, has a buyers guide of $1 million to $1.1 million.

After 30 groups attended last weekend’s open inspection of a contemporary house at 3D Lloyd Wright Way, Beecroft, Belinda Hill from Belle Property Beecroft is optimistic that it will sell under the hammer on Saturday.

“People are realistic — the world doesn’t stop turning because of an election,” Ms Hill said.

“If they see something they like they will go and vote and then go and bid on the house.”

The property at 3D Lloyd Wright Way has pulling power, she said.

“Lloyd Wright Way is an upmarket estate and very exclusive. People wait for houses to come onto the market in that street. I am super confident that an election will not affect the auction outcome at all.”